Submitted by Mike Grenville on Mon, 07 Nov 2005 23:18

The first ever independent list of the future faces of mobile companies in the UK has been compiled by a panel of independent judges.

Sponsored by O2 and published by Real Business and 160 Characters, the companies cover a broad range of mobile services and uses. The services on offer include automated gas meter readings to mobile rat-catching through to mobile entertainment companies and a wide range of mobile infrastructure and technology.

Thirty per cent of the companies listed in the O2 50 to Watch operate globally and 62% are based outside of London. Together they have combined revenues of £1 billion illustrating the significant part the mobile services industry plays in the UK economy.

The O2 50 to Watch in Mobile were selected from a list of over 200 companies by an independent panel of experts including: Mike Short VP Research & Development - O2 Group Technology, Professor Peter Cochrane, Adam Leyland, Editor - Real Business, and Mike Grenville, Editor - 160 Characters.

Unveiled today, the O2 50 to Watch in Mobile is the first ever independently compiled list identifying the 50 most important British mobile companies to watch. The list looks beyond handset manufacturers and network operators, to reveal the new vibrant and innovative companies that are shaping the future of the mobile industry.

Published in conjunction with Real Business, the O2 50 to Watch represent combined revenues of £1 billion and demonstrates how UK companies are pioneering the evolution of the mobile industry - and are doing so with astonishing flair and diversity. O2 is committed to building mutually beneficial and profitable partnerships across the mobile industry and the O2 50 to watch is great practical example of this.

It also highlights the strength, innovation and dynamics of a new industry with robust business models, which is making real money from real consumers and businesses. Companies included in the list range from corporate PC-to-text services to interactive poster-advertising to automated gas meter readings. Many of the individuals behind the O2 50 to Watch are industry heavy-weights, serial entrepreneurs or the next generation of industry personalities.

Mike Short, VP Research & Development, at O2, comments: "Mobile technology is arguably the world's most exportable commodity. It is more deeply entrenched than any other communications technology. 85% of UK households own mobile devices and there are nearly two billion mobile users in more than 210 countries. In comparison, only 40% of households have a PC.

The criteria for selection is that the companies are British, growing, not too big yet, making money, have a sound future and a certain X-factor which sets them apart from their peers. The O2 50 to Watch does not just reflect current activity, but are a harbinger of much greater things to come.

Short continues: "The global market for innovative and useful mobile technology is vast - and it's a market that the UK's leading mobile lights are rushing to service. What this list clearly illustrates is that, beyond the household names, there is a host of exciting and emerging companies, which are spawning content and services driving mobile to the next level."

Adam Leyland, Editor, Real Business, adds: "A casual glance at the mobile industry might reveal it to be the exclusive playground of a handful of network operators and handset manufacturers. But this list shows British mobile innovations are one of the foremost drivers in this industry and have already sparked vast global businesses. For example in 1999 Alexander Amosu made £96 from his first ringtone; today, ringtones globally are a £3.5 billion market."

The O2 50 to watch in mobile Listed in alphabetical order Company Name Based The boss Latest Turnover Key Fact 24/7 Mobile Media London Nick Mordin N/A Serial entrepreneur Mordin is founder of 24/7 Parking and extended the model into mobile gaming. ²ergo Lancashire Barry Sharples/ Neale Graham £11.2m Sharples and Graham have over 17 years experience running telecoms companies together. 3Way Networks Cambridge Dr David Cleevely N/A Supplies 3G base stations to the US military for use on the battlefield. Apertio Bristol Paul Magelli £3.4m Compares its software-based network to the shift from mainframe to software in IT. AQA London Colly Myers N/A Colly Myers is the former CEO of Symbian and MD of Psion. AQA - Any Questions Answered. Simply text a question to 63336, wait a couple of minutes or so and they'll get back to you with your answer. Argogroup London David Frodsham £4.2m Transformed itself from a wireless product manufacturer into a network services testing company. Arieso Newbury Shirin Dehgan N/A Arieso's network optimisation cuts network costs for operators by 30%. Babel Media Brighton Algy Williams £4.9m Babel is expert in UK games and interactive entertainment industries development. Bango Cambridge Ray Anderson £3.4m Anderson shipped the world's first commercial web browser. Listed on London Stock Exchange, Bango provides mobile billing in over 130 countries for content charged to users' phone bill, to their pre-pay account, to their credit or debit card, or at retail outlets. Brand Communications Cambridge Martin Kendrick N/A Offers "off-the-shelf" applications for use on WiFi and 3G networks. C3 Cambridge John Wood £3m Provides mobile platform for over 40% of UK mobile voting market on reality TV shows etc. Cognima London Mark Bole N/A Camera phone software allows users to move content and images on and off mobiles easily. Dialogue Communications Sheffield Paul Griffiths £12.1m (E) A big player in B2B texting and enjoying huge growth. Digital Rum (dRum) London Bob Pike £1.9m Pike sold Vxtreme to Microsoft. It offers mobile CRM services to clients that include Argos. eCourier London Thomas Allason N/A Uses cutting edge location and tracking technology to track courier packages. Empower Interactive London Keith Cornell N/A Over 50 million mobile messages are processed by Empower's products worldwide every day. e-San Oxford Clive Peggram N/A Remote monitoring of patients with cystic fibrosis, asthma and high blood pressure using GPRS. Esendex Nottingham Julian Hucker £3m Esendex has just signed its 1000th customer and is growing by 100 customers per month. Ezurio London Chris Shannon N/A New spinout for team of veteran Bluetooth specialists. Flytxt London Carsten Boers N/A The pioneer of mobile marketing in the UK. Now global. HaySystems/HSL Edinburgh Mark Hay N/A Provides SMS services to clients such as BAA, Cisco Systems, HP, Sony Ericsson and Schlumberger Hypertag Cambridge Rachel Harker N/A Hypertags are Bluetooth "tags" that send marketing information to consumer mobile phones. iFone Manchester Morgan O'Rahilly £3.6m Works with game developers, handset manufacturers and wireless carriers for mobile content. I-play London Brian Greasely £6.2m Formerly known as Digital Bridges, I-play is a pioneer in the mobile SMS and Java games space. Kuju Wireless Publishing Godalming Kevin Holloway £7.7m Kuju Wireless was one of the very first mobile games companies. mBlox London Jeffery Clark N/A Merged with MobileSys, US SMS services provider to the enterprise market, in 2003 and operates one of the largest mobile transaction newtorks. Mediaburst Cheshire Jeremy Bygrave £4.5m Provide PC to text services for customers such as Microsoft and O2. Mobile Commerce Cirencester Steve Page N/A Specialises in location services to help you find a plumber or other local services. Mobile Innovation London Jonathan Sulenski £12.15m Designs user interfaces and software for smartphones and mobiles. Mobile Interactive Group London Barry Houlihan £6.2m Houlihan helped to build up Genie Mobile, one of the first mobile internet companies in the UK. Mobile Streams Newbury Simon Buckingham £3m Specialises in mobile music and media. One of the first successful ringtones companies Mobiqa Edinburgh Iain McCready c.£1m Developed mobile barcodes, which can be used as tickets, vouchers and coupons. Monstermob London Martin Higginson £21.1m Serial entrepreneur Higginson has just bought Chinese mobile content specialist ATOP. Large provider of ringtones and youth orientated mobile content. MX Telecom London Thomas O'Donohoe £24.6m Streams TV show "Big Brother" to 3G phones. Opera Telecom Birmingham Gary Corbett £99m Corbett was part of the startup team at Tiscali. Opera is the biggest aggregator in the UK Re5ult Cambridge Sarah McVittie £3m Via its '82ASK' (82275) service, for just £1, mobile users can text a question and get the answer in minutes. Sarantel Wellingborough David Wither £1.01m Sarantel provides wireless antennas for mobile phones, which reduce radiation by 90 per cent. Scoopt Glasgow Kyle MacRae N/A New photo agency that helps the public sell newsworthy mobile phone images to national media. Spinvox London Christina Domecq N/A Converts voicemails into text messages Sponge Group London Alex Meisl £2.52m Mobile content and technology to Coca Cola, Budweiser, Sunday Times, Channel 4 and Endemol. Stream Communications Glasgow Kevin McDowall N/A Telemetry and machine-to-machine (M2M) services via mobile The Cloud Fareham George Polk N/A The largest public 'WiFi' wireless hotspot operator in Europe. Timico Newark Tim Radford $5m New MVNO with T-Mobile will offer one bill for your mobile, landline and broadband. Trackaphone Northumberland Phil Derry £2.5m (E) Uses location-based services to track employees and customers. TTP Communications Royston Tony Milbourn £62m Supplies and designs wireless silicon IP to the semiconductor and handset industry. Volantis Guildford Matt Harris N/A Cross-platform technology to optimise mobile content. vsGaming Ipswich Jerry Bowskill N/A Mobile games to global online gambling businesses such as SportingBet and Ladbrokes weComm London Oliver Sturrock N/A Provides the delivery platform for content providers such as Reuters, Dow Jones and The Press Assocation WIN High Wycombe Peter Button £32.6m Wireless Information Networks customers include BBC, Associated Newspapers, Granada, Centrica. Wyless London Michael Jeffries £3.2m One of the UK leaders in telemetry and machine-to-machine communication.